Jürgen Klinsmann

1972–1981: Youth career

Klinsmann is one of four sons of master baker Siegfried Klinsmann (died 2005) and his wife Martha (died 2021). At age eight, he began playing for TB Gingen, an amateur football club in Gingen an der Fils. Six months later, he scored 16 goals in a single match for his new club. At age ten, he moved to SC Geislingen. When he was 14 years old, his father bought a bakery in Stuttgart, the state capital. After the family relocated there, Klinsmann continued to play for SC Geislingen, even after he was spotted in a Württemberg youth selection. In 1978, aged 14, he signed a contract with Stuttgarter Kickers, the club where he would turn professional two years later. His parents decided he should first finish his apprenticeship as a baker in their family business, which he completed in 1982.

1981–1989: Stuttgarter Kickers and VfB Stuttgart

Klinsmann began his professional career in 1982 at the then-second division side Stuttgarter Kickers. By 1982–83, he was already a regular starter and by the end of the 1983–84 season, he had scored 19 goals for the club. Horst Buhtz, a Stuttgarter Kickers former coach, recalls Klinsmann benefited from intensive training from Horst Allman, who was one of the best sprint coaches in Germany at that time. At the beginning of the new season, he managed to improve his 100 m dash from 11.7 to 11.0 seconds. In 1984, Klinsmann moved to first division rivals VfB Stuttgart. In his first season at the club, he…

On 12 December 1987, Klinsmann debuted for the West German senior squad in a 1–1 friendly draw against Brazil. He was an important part of the West German team that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup. After qualifying for the round of 16, Germany was to play the Netherlands, against whom they had lost two years earlier at UEFA Euro 1988. After Rudi Völler was sent off in the 22nd minute, Klinsmann was forced to play as a lone striker. He scored the 1–0 opener and his performance received considerable praise. German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that "In the last decade, not a single forward of a DFB team has offered such a brilliant, almost perfect performance." After further victories over Czechoslovakia (1–0) and England (1–1 after extra time, 4–3 on penalties), he became a world champion after beating Argentina 1–0 in the final. Klinsmann is remembered for being fouled by the Argentinian Pedro Monzón, who was subsequently sent off, reducing Argentina to ten men. Many critics called the incident a prime example of Klinsmann's diving, a claim he contradicted. In a 2004 interview, he noted that the foul left a 15 cm gash on his shin. His last international tournament with Germany was the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in which they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by surprising debutants Croatia.

Germany

On 26 July 2004, Klinsmann returned to Germany as the new head coach of the national team, succeeding former teammate and strike partner Rudi Völler. Klinsmann subsequently embarked on an aggressive program to revamp the management of the team. Bringing fellow German striker Oliver Bierhoff on board helped diffuse public relations duties of the previous combined post away from the actual coaching aspect of the position. Furthermore, he created a youth movement to breathe life into an aging squad on the heels of a disastrous showing at Euro 2004. In the run-up to the 2006 World Cup, Klinsmann attracted criticism from German fans and the media following poor results, such as the 4–1 loss to Italy. A particular subject of criticism was that Klinsmann commuted to Germany from the U.S., which was the target of a campaign by the tabloid Bild. Klinsmann previously eliminated some privileges Bild traditionally had with the national team, such as receiving the team lineup the day before a match and 24/7 exclusive access to the team. His largely offensive tactics have irritated some, who complained he ignored defensive football. He announced a squad of young players for the 2006 World Cup, basing his selection policy on performance, not reputation.

During the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, he regularly rotated his goalkeepers regardless of their performances, which drew the ire of Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn. On 7 April 2006, Klinsmann finally decided to relegate Kahn…

In 1995, Klinsmann and some of his close friends founded the children charity foundation Agapedia, which stems from the Greek language and translates to "Love for Children". In 1997, Klinsmann, acting as the captain of the Germany national team, visited the Holocaust memorial place Yad Vashem in Israel alongside his coach Berti Vogts. This visit was televised around the globe and drew worldwide attention. Klinsmann is also a board member of the German Initiative Für die Zukunft lernen, which means "Learning for the future", and supports the education of young people about the Holocaust. In May 1999, Klinsmann donated all the proceeds from his farewell match (more than US$1 million) to different children's charity organizations. The match was a sell-out with 54,000 fans in Stuttgart's Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. Famous personalities such as Bryan Adams, Boris Becker and many others contributed to this event.